Resident Evil‘s string of remakes has been rumored to be revisiting the fan-favorite prequel game Resident Evil 0, which could finally explain a lingering mystery about one of the game’s main characters. Debuting on the Nintendo GameCube in 2002 alongside the remake of the first Resident Evil, Resident Evil 0 shifted the focus to Rebecca Chambers, a member of the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team who largely only plays a supporting role in the franchise. It was a solid showing for the S.T.A.R.S. medic, setting her up to become a more enduring character in the series by throwing her up against the machinations of the Umbrella Corporation.
A potential remake of Resident Evil 0 is rumored to be in development, and it is a great opportunity to bring Rebecca back into the spotlight. It’s also a natural way for the series to expand on the plot of the original, with rumors and speculation suggesting that it could be similar to how other modern remakes of the series have introduced new layers to characters and expanded plot points. That would be fitting for Resident Evil 0, which featured one of the franchise’s most unique protagonists with the game’s other playable character, Billy Coen. In fact, a remake of Resident Evil 0 might be the best chance Capcom ever gets to naturally resolve a long-standing mystery of the franchise.
Despite being one of Resident Evil 0‘s main characters, Billy Coen’s fate has remained a mystery since the events of that 2002 title — giving the possible remake plenty of opportunity to expand on his place in the larger Resident Evil franchise. In contrast to Rebecca’s formal position as a member of the S.T.A.R.S. team, Billy was a former Marine on death row for killing nearly two dozen innocent people while on duty, a crime he tried to stop but was later framed for.
When the prison van carrying Billy was caught up in the chaos that would eventually overtake the entire Raccoon City area, he escaped confinement and made his way to the nearby Ecliptic Express train. This set up his meeting with Rebecca, as well as their reluctant team-up to survive the zombies and monsters they encountered in their investigation. The emotional core of the Resident Evil 0 storyline became their developing dynamic, with the pair gradually finding a partnership based on trust and respect after helping one another investigate a nearby Umbrella lab and survive the efforts of the monstrous Queen Leech.
In the aftermath, Rebecca and Billy escaped with their lives as the only two survivors from the Ecliptic Express. While Rebecca went off to reunite with her fellow S.T.A.R.S. officers at the Spencer Mansion, she allowed Billy to escape. She was later revealed to have reported his “death,” giving Billy a chance for a fresh start that almost no one in the series has ever achieved. It was a clever way to give the character a full arc without messing with the later plot points of the series, while also leaving the door open for an eventual return that never materialized.
Despite the Resident Evil series having a long-running habit of bringing back older characters for new roles in sequels, Billy has never actually reappeared in a Resident Evil outside of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, a light-gun recap of the initial Raccoon City outbreak storyline. That’s a shame, too, because Billy offers a unique perspective on the series. He’s the lead in a fan-favorite title, but Resident Evil 0 being a GameCube exclusive for so long might have played a role in keeping him out of subsequent sequels.
Due to the purposefully ambiguous nature of his final scene, Billy’s fate has been debated by fans for years. Some argue that his experience as a Marine makes it likely he could survive on his own in the forests neighboring Raccoon City, giving him a chance to escape and live out his life. Others suggested that it’s more likely Billy never escaped the forests, either getting picked off by the monsters in the woods or the Umbrella Corps forces sent to eliminate any witnesses to the corporation’s crimes.
It’s spurred on plenty of fan theories and fan fictions, with a mystery that Capcom has never seemed all that interested in resolving. It’s a rarity for the Resident Evil franchise, however, to leave fans with nothing about his eventual fate. Even other one-off characters like Carlos from Resident Evil 3 got a bit more closure in their farewells, whereas Billy’s fate was left almost entirely to the imagination. Even when the series seemed willing to take on entirely new tonal paths in games like Resident Evil 4 or Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, it found ways to reincorporate characters and elements of previous games.
Billy is one of the rare exceptions to that rule. While it has done a good job of keeping fan interest in a relatively minor character, it has also been frustrating for fans of the character who wanted to see more of him or at least have a better idea what fate was awaiting him. While it seems unlikely that the main-line sequels like the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem will have time to spend on Billy, a remake of Resident Evil 0 could be the best (and only) chance fans will ever get to find out more about him and what happens to him.
If Resident Evil 0 does get a modern remake, Billy will likely be expanded upon and potentially even get a full resolution to his story. On top of reestablishing his importance in the narrative as a crucial ally to Rebecca, it could also give fans a better hint of what became of the character after his one-series appearance. An expansion for the remake could include more about Billy’s home life or personal ambitions, giving players a better idea of where Billy could go after the events of the game.
The remake could incorporate more hints towards Billy’s civilian connections, giving him a family to return to or a friend to find. It could lean towards a more tragic fate for the character, teasing that he couldn’t escape Raccoon City or that he was later picked off by Umbrella. There could be suggestions that he goes undercover for S.T.A.R.S. and picks up a new identity, letting him retroactively continue to play a part in the overarching franchise narrative in a way unseen by the players. Even if the game doesn’t give players a concrete resolution to Billy’s fate, having a better idea of what becomes of him after Resident Evil 0 could finally resolve that lingering thread.
Even just giving players a clue about what happened to Billy would be a gift to fans who have spent the last two decades wondering what became of him. If the possible remake is made and is well-received, it could even be the gateway towards bringing the character back into the mainline continuity. A Resident Evil 0 remake would be the ideal way to give fans of Billy Coen a long-awaited sense of closure, even just a minor one, all while reinforcing what made him such a compelling character in Resident Evil 0 in the first place.
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